VHeadline editor & publisher Roy S. Carson writes: American Voice Radio Network (AVRN) "Frankly Speaking" radio host, Frank Steffan, doesn't spare the horses when the states, frankly, that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez doesn't "even rise to the status of 'dictator' and that he (Chavez) has now exposed his nature to be that of a common thug!"
Frank adds: "Who in their right mind will deal or negotiate with a 'government' that denies employment to people who vote against the government in democratic referendums? ...and this while this 'revolutionary' government is co-opting more and more industries so there'll be no jobs left anywhere for people who vote against government positions!"
I try to explain to Frank Steffan that Venezuela is NOT Switzerland and that 'things' in Venezuela have their own time and place ... admittedly frustrating to any outside observer ... but just another unnecessary part of the political geography in a Venezuela that has clearly gone off the rails.
There is, basically, no argument!
It's a matter of opinion whether Hugo Chavez Frias is, or is not, a thug! Personally, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt (at least until proven otherwise!) since I believe him, in essence, to be a sincere man who wants the best for his country and its people. That does NOT mean that VHeadline or Roy S. Carson is joined to Chavez at the hip, but rather that we accept the democratic order in which he (Chavez) was elected President of Venezuela and will remain in that position as long as the law permits.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias
Chavez may not be the cleverest kid on the block but, a majority of Venezuelan voters put him there! And who are we to decide otherwise?
Same thing Stateside! A majority of voters of the United States have clearly decided that Barack Obama is to be their President come January 2009. Is there some dispute over the election result? Some people may have preferred McCain and some may even have preferred Palin to inherit the hot seat in the Oval Office if/when the geriatric expired ... but, hey, the election is OVER! Get on with it!
AVRN's Frank Steffan opines that "the criminal operation masking itself as the Venezuelan revolutionary government, changes the rules anytime they feel like it!" Of course referring to news agency reports these past few days claiming that Venezuela is 'nationalizing' gold mines right, left and center like there's no tomorrow... He asks me: "Why is it so difficult for you to realize that Chavez is a corrupt communist thug?"
Rather rich, mind you, coming from "the land of the brave" where they're finally getting to see the sorry hindquarters of George W. Bush who, although he couldn't be described as a communist by any stratospheric interpretation of the word, is most certainly a THUG!
Frank admonishes further and says: "He's EL PRESIDENTE!" obviously referring to Chavez, implying that he (Chavez) should make good on US State Department claims that he is an authoritarian anti-democratic dictator and simply line the corrupt b*****ds in his administration up agaist a wall and put bullets in their heads!
Shades of Augusto Pinochet's Chile and Leopoldo Galtieri's Argentina methinks, but...
Without even remotely wishing to appear sycophantic about it, I believe it is to Chavez' eternal credit that he hasn't used the USA-approved dictator's manual, although he's clearly out of control of both his detractors and his legions of corrupt underlings throughout the government administration that's now NO better than it was before he was elected to office in December 1998 ... one could even say worse!
That could possibly be the REALITY of his problem since he's lost track of his original ethos of returning political power to the grassroots people of Venezuela and a party political machinery has been installed that is quickly leading both him and his country up the garden path to the very dictatorship he has so ardently sought to avoid despite the labels accorded to him by ill-wishers within the Washington Beltway. Perhaps I am naive? Don't think so!
'El Presidente' has been deluded into thinking that the popular support he witnesses all over the place in Venezuela, will help him survive the many challenges that he faces before his presidency must necessarily come to an end. He KNOWS(or should know) that he is surrounded by two-faced governors and mayors who are the anti-thesis of what he means the Bolivarian Revolution to really be. He HOPES that the grassroots people of Venezuela will NOT themselves be taken in by the charlatans currently in charge of their local and regional governments and he is relying strongly on an imagined surge of popular support in the event that the already identified corrupt elements within his administration and beyond, take it upon themselves to dictate. Again ... perhaps I am naive? Don't think so!
Whichever way, we needs must wait until after the November 23 local and regional elections, to see whither the wind blows for Venezuela's democratic future.
Almost certainly there will be a popular grassroots uprising if the ordinary men, woman and children of Venezuela find themselves facing further debilitating corruption within the governmental machinery. There could even be -- hopefully not -- a counter-revolution from domestic forces who want to re-impose the state of corruption in government that led to Chavez' attempted military coup d'etat in February 1992 and his democratic election coup d'etat at the polls in December 1998 ... perhaps even a re-enactment of the failed USA-backed coup d'etat in April 2002 ... only God knows!
So, democratically, all we can do is to sit and wait as spectators of the thrust and parry of corrupt politics and devious diversions that currently infect Venezuela's political theater.
We can applaud any legal effort to contain the catastrophe which Venezuelan government has become, and we can castigate the wealth of crass and criminal abuses within the administration that are becoming more and more apparent each and every day.
Roy S. Carson is veteran foreign correspondent (45+ years in the business) currently editor & publisher of VHeadline Venezuela reporting on news & views from and about Venezuela in South America -- available for interviews -- call Houston 713.893.1433
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